MIT CoLab

🏙️🏡 Spring 2025 Course Spotlight!

CoLab is proud to highlight 'Making Good on Baltimore as a Just City: Building Solutions for a Vacant Housing Crisis', led by Holly Harriel. This course challenges students to tackle Baltimore’s vacant housing crisis by working on real-time solutions for a client. Through community-driven approaches, students will rethink stakeholder engagement and explore how resident perspectives can be integrated into the city’s neighborhood stabilization initiatives.

By supporting this work, we continue to foster collaborative problem-solving for just and equitable cities.

🌿💰 Spring 2025 Course Spotlight!

CoLab is excited to highlight 'Green Finance: Mobilizing Capital to Transition to a Net-Zero Economy', taught by Katrin Kaeufer & Karl Seidman this spring. Tackling climate change requires large-scale financing across sectors, and this course explores the financial tools, policies, and institutions needed to accelerate the shift to a sustainable, equitable economy.

Through this work, we continue to support research and learning that advances climate justice and economic equity.

Today, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a visionary whose unwavering commitment to justice, equity, and hope continues to inspire our work. At MIT CoLab, we are reminded of his call to action: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. King’s work for justice extends to the fight for environmental justice, as the communities most impacted by climate change are often those already marginalized. Through our new “Climate Futures” pathway, we carry the torch of his vision, advancing climate justice and building equitable solutions for a more sustainable future.

https://www.ourclimatefutures.com/

As the age wave materializes, the United States is largely unprepared to support Americans' ability to age with dignity and independence. Amid demographic, financing, and workforce challenges, wide-ranging innovation will be required in-home care, dementia care, senior housing, and long-term care finance if person-centered care is to become affordable and accessible.

We invite you to join MIT Community Innovators Lab on Tuesday, January 7 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm EST for a webinar to launch our report, "Promising Housing and Long-Term Care Innovations for Person-Centered Aging Amid Financing and Workforce Challenges: Lessons from the Netherlands"!

Register Here! https://ow.ly/bV0t50UvbnE

At MIT CoLab, we're committed to making the clean energy transition fair and accessible for everyone. Through cutting-edge research and strategic partnerships, our Closing the Gaps initiative ensures the benefits of America's climate investments reach the communities that need it most. Join us in creating a more inclusive, sustainable future, and learn more about how Closing the Gaps is driving clean energy change. ; ; ; ; ; ;
https://ow.ly/hK7t50UiE1r

In the face of new Federal opposition to climate action, we remain committed to advancing sustainable and equitable solutions for the future at the local and community level. At MIT CoLab, our Climate Futures Program combines innovative research with local expertise, empowering the communities most impacted by climate change to lead the charge in shaping our economic and policy landscapes. Together, we can continue to drive progress toward a brighter, more sustainable future. ; ; ; ; ; ; https://ow.ly/o1RJ50UcJvy

Strengthening Our Commitment Amidst New Challenges

The recent heatwave is a stark reminder of the urgent need to address climate change. It's not just about the rising temperatures; it's about the disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities. Let's be aware, be conscious, and advocate for climate justice.

We just launched our free online program – called Just Money! This digital MIT course invites you to a learning journey on values-based financial institutions around the world. Do you know what your bank does with your money? What is the role of a bank in producing societal well-being? This course looks into banks that operate differently, namely, “just banks" that use capital and finance as a tool to address social and ecological challenges.

This course is for anyone who wants to understand the unique role banks play as intermediaries in our economy and how they can leverage that position to produce positive social, environmental, and economic change.

The instructors of this course have worked for over 15 years with just banks from around the world, as well as in the fields of community development, economic democracy, and social change.

No previous knowledge of finance or banking is needed to take this course. Enroll by simply signing up here: https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+11.405x/

Today we honor Juneteenth by remembering our past, celebrating resilience, and committing to a future of equality and justice for all.

Congratulations to some of our grads from the Class of 2024 from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning! Your hard work and dedication have paid off, and now you're ready to embark on new adventures and careers. Wishing you the best of luck as you step into the next chapter of your lives. May your journeys be filled with success, fulfillment, and endless opportunities to positively impact our cities and communities. Go forth and shine bright!

Exciting News! CoLab is thrilled to announce the launch of our FREE online course on Green/Social Finance called Just Money: Banking as if Society Mattered.

Dive into how finance can be a powerful tool for tackling social and environmental challenges. In this comprehensive course, you'll explore:

🔹 Core principles of just banking
🔹 Using finance for social and environmental change
🔹 Impact of different banking forms on societal well-being
🔹 Ongoing challenges for just banks
🔹 Future of just banking and financial technologies

Plus, we're introducing a new module on financial inclusion in Latin America, featuring AI in credit scoring and renewable energy innovations!

Join us and be part of the change. The link to enroll is here: https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+11.405x/